The Witch in the Well
by Uncle Charlie
Summary: There has been a legend about the mère engueule snatching children for many years in the small village and Sapphire and Steel come to make sure no more meet their death. If only the town would cooperate. Written for Obscure and British commentfest. My thanks to Svetlanacat4 for this nifty legend!


**alisanne**

May. 17th, 2014 12:19 pm (local)

Sapphire and Steel, anything, really.

"Suzette, you need to get the water now!"

Suzette turned from her mirror and set down her brush. When her mother used that tone, there was no getting around her. She tied up her long black hair with a bright yellow ribbon and stood, carefully brushing the wrinkles from her dress.

Suzette had just come to terms with her womanhood and she was hoping to catch the eye of a certain boy this Saturday night. Jacque had piercing blue eyes and just a hint of a moustache clinging precarious to his upper lip. It made him seem so dashing and grown up. Of course there would be other girls trying to make a conquest as well. And there was something different about him. When he turned just right, he looked like another person entirely. This both intrigued and scared her a little. Maybe this is what love did to a woman.

She turned sideways and admired her figure. She was big where she needed to be and thin everywhere else. Jacque would not be able to resist her, especially in the frock she was going to wear.

"SUZETTE!"

"_Oui, Mamma!"_ She darted from the room and hurried down the narrow stairs to where her mother stood buckets in hand.

"And take care of the _mère engueule."_

"Oh, Mamma, that is a story for little children."

Her mother's eyes narrowed and Suzette sucked her lips in, lest her mother spot the lipstick she'd been experimenting with.

"Also for young girls who think that they are too old for such things. Take care, _Mon Cher_."

"_Oui, Mamma_." She dragged out the last syllable as she picked up the buckets and slowly walked towards the well. She hated getting water. It was something for servants and peasants to do, not a young lady of her stature. After all, wasn't her father the mayor of their town? Wasn't her mother the most beautiful woman of all the women in their district? She should not have to haul water like a common…

The thought flitted from her mind as she spotted Jacque. He was leaning against the well, his head tilted back, face lifted to the sun.

She made a noise by knocking her pails together and his head came forward. There was a strange faraway look in his eyes.

"_Bonjour, mi petite." _ His voice was velvet on silk.

His familiarity both annoyed and flattered her. "I am not your little one." She tossed her hair and it bounced around her face and shoulders. "Please step aside so that I might fill my buckets."

"Permit me." He lowered the well's bucket down and drew it out slowly so that the water wouldn't slosh over the sides. Beneath his white shirt, his muscles rippled and Suzette felt a strange warming which started at her toes and raced to her eyebrows.

He filled one of her buckets and repeated the process. Then he cursed.

"What's wrong?" Suzette took a step forward.

"The rope broke." He leaned over and then straightened. "I'm too broad in the shoulders, _mii petite, _but you should be able to reach it."

Her mother's words rang in her ears, but she shrugged them off. "You will keep me from falling? But, I beg you for the sake of propriety, not too familiar."

"But of course."

Swallowing, she leaned over the edge and peered down into the darkness of the well. "But, Jacque, the rope isn't broken. It's…"

Jacque turned his face from the spectacle, keeping a hold on the body while the creature inside feasted.

"_Bon appetite, Mamma,"_ he whispered as he permitted the rest of the girl's body to fall into the maw of the creature. "_Bien manger_…"

_**All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned. **_

The dirt road was rutted and uneven, with trash gathered in low spots and held in place by the skeletal remains of weeds and low bush. It was empty of foot traffic, one end disappearing into the woods, the other around a bend. Then, suddenly it wasn't. It was if he'd appeared out of nowhere. He was oddly dressed, but as a stranger, that could be understood. What was a perplexity is that he seemed to be talking to himself.

"All I'm saying is that if children are their most precious resource, they should keep a close eye on them," he muttered, ignoring the dust that marred the polished surface of his shoes.

_It's not as straight forward as that, Steel._

"That's hardly recent news."

Abruptly there was a woman walking beside him, but the casual observer would be hard pressed to argue she hadn't been there all along. Her leather boots swished through the dried grass and each step created little puffs of dust.

Her clothes, like the man's, seemed odd for the moment and place. "Where are we?" she asked while watching the dust float away.

"Outside a small town in France. The exact locale doesn't really matter." Steel brushed away a fly with an angry flick of his wrist.

"Why is that?" Sapphire knew her partner was usually quite exact with such things

"There is a catchment here."

"What caused it?"

"They don't know, which bothers Them more than They want to mention. They just want it shut down." Steel paused as if to get his bearings, then resumed walking slowly.

"That's easier said than done. Do we know where it's centered?"

"Sadly, that's our assignment. We won't be doing the clean-up this time, merely the locating - the proverbial needle in a haystack." He stopped and pointed to a groups of buildings in the distance. "And there's our haystack."

"Well, at least it's a small village. Imagine what it would be like if it was Paris." Her clothes shifted from the dress she'd been wearing to something more appropriate, a white blouse, a tight vest, and a long pale blue skirt. "Steel?"

"What? He sighed and his outfit went from a three-piece suit to a loose-fitting tunic that was belted at the waist and baggy trousers, the ends stuffed into scruffy boots. "Better?"

A floppy hat appeared on his head and she laughed as she handed him a long black cord.

"What's this for?"

"Tie back your hair. It's very much the fashion now."

"My hair?" He sighed, but did as she bade.

"Now you are perfect." She curtseyed to him. "My lord."

"And don't you forget it." He tried to keep a smile from his lips. This was serious business, but still he smirked and Sapphire laughed. They needed these moments to help them deal with the less attractive aspects of their job. He sobered. "What are we looking for exactly? Are there denizens?"

"Vile things. They like out-of-the way places. In modern times, they prefer closets."

"I remember – the Boogeyman." Steel made a face. That had not been the best of encounters. Successful, but it had taken him a week to remove the stink from his person.

"Those are a bit different, but the operation is similar. They lure the victim in and consume, thereby throwing the time line on this side off. Or, so they hope. However, unlike our Boogeyman, these creatures are trapped within. The victims must come to them."

Sapphire stopped and looked to her left at a small cemetery. She moved towards it and touched one of the rough-hewn crosses. Her eyes glowed an unearthly blue and she gasped.

"Oh, Steel, so many victims!" She fell to her knees. "This is called _Terrain__de la__ P__erte_."

"Land of the Lost?"

"No bodies are in those graves, just empty boxes laid there by their families. Such incredible sadness and loss." Her eyes returned to normal as she continued to let her fingers play over the cross's surface. "They are victims of the _mère engueule_."

"The what?" Steel came to stand very close to her and she leaned back against him, pulling strength from him

"It translates to 'Mother Berates, but I'm not sure what they mean by it."

"And the legend?" Steel pressed her on and, after a moment, Sapphire rallied.

"She comes out of the dark and snatches children."

"And again I repeat my former statement. Why is it always the children?"

"They are weak and don't put up as much of a fight. They are innocent and pure."

They entered the town and people froze at the sight of them. It wasn't that they were out of place. They were strangers and this was a town in mourning. Sapphire paused before a door with black wreath upon it.

"This one is the most recent."

"Then she is the one we talk to."

Steel's arm was snatched. "Leave her alone!"

Slowly he turned to face the speaker, a young man with blue eyes and sandy blond hair, a youth poised on the edge of manhood. Steel took a deep breath and the boy snatched his hand away as if it had been burned.

"Excuse me?" Steel's voice was very low and very hard.

"I just meant…" He flexed his hand as if perplexed by it. "She just lost her only child. Can't you see she's in mourning?"

"We are here to help her." Sapphire stepped forward and offered her hand, but he'd learned his lesson and just stared at it.

"You can't. No one can. This town is cursed!"

"Then perhaps we can help. My name is Sapphire and this is Steel."

"I… I am Jacque."

"And you knew the deceased?" The people who had surrounded them initially were now gone. It was as if only the three of them existed.

"Her name is Suzette and she's not dead. She's just lost. She is coming back. I know it. She wouldn't leave me," Jacque whimpered. Sapphire stepped closer to take his hand, a seeming act of compassion.

"We mean no disrespect, Jacque. She was very close to you, wasn't she?"

"I was going to ask her to be my wife at the dance this Saturday." He pulled his hand free and turned away, shoulders shaking in grief.

_He's lying._

_Sapphire, are you sure? _Steel appeared to be studying the door and its wreath.

_His lips say one thing, but every cell in his body is fighting against itself._

_Fighting? _That got Steel's attention. _Why?_

_To hold this shape. It is not his natural state._

_He is our mère engueule_?

_No, I think rather her servant._

_Excellent._ "Jacque, can you take us to where it happened?" At the strange look from the young man, Steel continue. "My partner and I, we have some skill in finding lost people. We would like to help you and her family."

Jacque leaned against a cottage wall and pounded it with a closed fist. "I… I don't know where that is. She's just gone."

"I think you are lying." Steel came up behind him. "I think perhaps you not only know where it happened, but also how. Did she struggle much, Jacque, or whatever your name really is? Did she scream to you for help, the savior in her world only to discover you were her betrayer?"

Jacque spun and for the briefest of moments, his features had taken on another shape, one very inhuman. A human wouldn't have even been able to register the change, but Steel and Sapphire were not human.

"You will take us there now."

"And if I refuse?"

Steel smiled, slowly and menacingly. "I wish you would. Very rarely do I get any substantial satisfaction from ripping apart one of your kind."

Jacques suddenly moved, snatched up a pitchfork, and slammed the tines into Steel's stomach. When he pulled it back, the ends of the tines were bent. "What are you?"

"Think of me as your one-way ticket home." Steel took a step forward and Jacque turned heel and fled, screaming like he was being murdered.

"All right, I suppose we need to pursue him?" Steel asked, a little unhappy at the prospect. Running wasn't his favorite task.

"No, he is heading for the well."

"The portal?"

"I believe so."

"Call the team." Steel took off.

_What are you going to do?_

_To make damn sure he gets what he deserves._

He caught up with Jacque at the town well. The young man spun and Steel slowed. "I give you credit. The well is the perfect spot. Everyone would have to visit it at least once a day and you were careful. You only take a few, never enough to make a real difference."

"I don't know what you mean, good _monsieur_." He kept his back to the well and Steel arched an eyebrow.

"I think that you and I understand each other quite well, _**good**__ monsieur_." Steel held his position, waiting for a signal that the others had arrived. "However, I think you were getting sloppy or your mere was getting greedy. Too many children were disappearing and it was being noticed.

"Here? They barely notice when one day changes to the next. She was getting too close. She was beginning to see."

"See? See the monster you are? I suspect that you were not the prince she thought you were and she was beginning to realize it. She was beginning to see the real you. You couldn't have that, could you?"

Jacque spit on the ground. "She wanted love. I gave her immortality. Her name will live forever and all she had to do was die for it."

There was a loud cry and Jacque spun. The townspeople were there, gathered around.

"Is this true, Jacque?" Suzette's mother shouted. "She loved you!"

"Well, I didn't love her." He laughed and bowed low to the crowd. "I thank you for all your children. They were tender and my mother found them a tasty tidbit. Now, it's time for me to go. _Mere_, I am coming." Jacque leapt into well and there was a loud scream.

Steel smiled grimly. _They took their sweet time._

_I'll let them know you said that._ Sapphire appeared at his side again. "Is he dead?"

"When they closed the portal, he was trapped here and became human. The well was now dried up. There was no water to cushion his fall. He's not dead, but I will hazard a guess that both of his legs are shattered."

People crowded around the well and shouted curses and insults down into it.

"I have a feeling he's in for a rough time of it."

Then someone threw in a pail full of dirt. And then another.

Steel nodded as the young man in the well screamed and pleaded and at last grew silent as the well filled with dirt and other garbage.

Sapphire and Steel started to walk from the town and Suzette's mother ran up to them, her face streaked with tears and dirt. Her husband was quick to follow.

"Thank you from us and our Suzette."

Sapphire took her hand between hers and squeezed it gently. "You will not be troubled by _mère engueule_ again. Take back your nights and your dreams. You are safe now. We are sorry so many of your children had to die." She released the woman's hand. "We should have come sooner."

"But who are you that we can remember you in our prayers?"

Sapphire smiled sweetly at the woman and shook her head. She glanced over at Steel, who hooked a finger over his shoulder. "No one important." With that, the entire town crumpled. "Sleep now."

Steel shook his head. "I wish I had that particular power in my repertory."

"Just as well that you don't. Poor Silver would never wake up."

Then, like the breeze on a hot summer day, they were gone.


End file.
